Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in January 2007. Before its release, Bloomsbury reportedly spent £10 million to keep the book's contents safe before its release date. American publisher Arthur Levine refused any copies of the novel to be released in advance for press review, although two reviews were submitted early. Shortly before release, photos of all 759 pages of the U.S. edition were leaked and transcribed, leading Scholastic to look for the source that had leaked it.

Released globally in 93 countries, Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever, a record it still held in 2012.[3] It sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours following its release, including more than 11 million in the U.S. and UK alone. The previous record, 9 million in its first day, had been held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The novel has also been translated into over 120 languages, including Ukrainian, Swedish, and Hindi.

Major themes in the novel are death and living in a corrupted society, and critics have compared them to Christian allegories. Generally well-received, the book won the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award, and the American Library Association named it a "Best Book for Young Adults". A two-part film adaptation began showing in November 2010 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released; Part 2 was released on 15 July 2011.

Plot

Background

Throughout the six previous novels in the series, the titular character Harry Potter has struggled with the difficulties of adolescence along with being a famous wizard. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard, murdered Harry's parents but vanished after attempting to kill Harry. Harry immediately became famous, and was placed in the care of his Muggle (non-magical) relatives Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon.

In Philosopher's Stone, Harry re-enters the wizarding world at age 11 and enrolls in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry also meets the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and Professor Severus Snape, who dislikes him. Harry fights Voldemort several times while at school, as the wizard tries to regain a physical form. In Goblet of Fire, Harry is entered in a dangerous magical competition called the Triwizard Tournament. At the conclusion of the Tournament, Harry witnesses the return of Lord Voldemort to full strength. During Order of the Phoenix, Harry and several of his friends face off against Voldemort's Death Eaters, a group of Dark witches and wizards, and narrowly defeat them. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry learns that Voldemort has created six "horcruxes" to become immortal. A Horcrux is a fragment of a person's soul placed within an object so that when the body dies, a part of the soul remains and the person can be regenerated or resurrected.[4] However, the destruction of the creator's body leaves the wizard or witch in a state of half-life, without corporeal form.[5] Two horcruxes have already been destroyed, one by Harry in the events of Chamber of Secrets and one by Dumbledore shortly before the events of Half-Blood Prince. When returning from a mission to discover a horcrux, Dumbledore is murdered by Snape, a former Death Eater whom Harry suspected of secretly remaining loyal to Voldemort. At the conclusion of the book, Harry decides to leave school, find and destroy the remaining four Horcruxes, and defeat the evil wizard Voldemort, once and for all.

Summary

Following Dumbledore's death, Voldemort continues to gain support and increase his power. Harry is about to turn seventeen, at which point the protection he has at his aunt and uncle's house will be broken. Before that can happen, Mad Eye Moody and other members of the Order of the Phoenix move Harry to the Burrow, using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate him so as to confuse any Death Eaters that may attack. They are indeed attacked immediately after leaving Privet Drive; Mad Eye is killed, and George Weasley wounded (his ear is cut off), but the rest arrive safely at the Burrow. Ron and Hermione decide to accompany Harry, instead of returning to Hogwarts School for their seventh year, to finish the quest Dumbledore started: to hunt and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes, four of which remain. They have little knowledge about the remaining Horcruxes except that one is a locket once owned by Hogwarts' co-founder Salazar Slytherin, one is possibly a cup once owned by co-founder Helga Hufflepuff, a third may be connected with co-founder Rowena Ravenclaw, and the fourth may be Nagini, Voldemort's snake familiar. The whereabouts of the founders' objects is unknown, and Nagini is presumed to be with Voldemort. Before leaving, they attend Ron's brother Bill's wedding to Fleur Delacour, with Harry disguised by Polyjuice Potion, but the Ministry of Magic is taken over by Death Eaters and the wedding is attacked, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione barely escape with their lives.

The three flee to 12 Grimmauld Place in London, which is Sirius Black's family's house, where they learn from the house-elf Kreacher that Slytherin's locket, once stolen by Sirius's brother Regulus, is now in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. They infiltrate the Ministry of Magic and steal back the locket, but have nothing with which to destroy it, and under the object's evil influence and the strain of constantly being on the run, Ron leaves the others. As Harry and Hermione continue the quest, they learn more about Dumbledore's past, including the insanity and death of Dumbledore's younger sister and his connection to the dark wizard Grindelwald. Harry and Hermione ultimately travel to Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace and the place where his parents died. They meet the elderly magical historian Bathilda Bagshot, who turns out to be Nagini in disguise and attacks them. They escape into the Forest of Dean, where a mysterious silver doe that appears to be a Patronus leads Harry to the Sword of Hogwarts co-founder Godric Gryffindor, one of the few objects able to destroy Horcruxes, lying at the bottom of an icy lake. When Harry attempts to recover the sword from the pool, the Horcrux attempts to kill him. Ron reappears, saving Harry and then using the sword to destroy the locket. Resuming their search, the trio repeatedly encounter a strange symbol that an eccentric wizard named Xenophilius Lovegood tells them represents the mythical Deathly Hallows. The Hallows are three sacred objects: the Elder Wand, an unbeatable wand; the Resurrection Stone, with the power to summon the dead to the living world; and an infallible Invisibility Cloak. Harry learns that Voldemort is seeking the Elder Wand, recognises the Resurrection Stone from the second Horcrux, which Dumbledore destroyed, and realises that his own Invisibility Cloak is the one mentioned in the story, but he is unaware of the Hallows' significance.

The trio are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. Harry and Ron are thrown in the cellar, where they find Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, Dean Thomas, and Griphook. Before Voldemort can arrive, Dobby appears and rescues them, and the entire group escapes to Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's house, but at the cost of Dobby's life. Harry now realises that the Hallows may have the power to defeat Death and knows that Voldemort robbed Dumbledore's tomb to procure the Elder Wand, but he decides to focus on finding the Horcruxes instead of the Hallows. They learn from Griphook that Helga Hufflepuff's cup – a Horcrux – is hidden in Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts. With Griphook's help, they break into the vault, retrieve the cup, and escape on a dragon, but Griphook takes the sword and escapes on his own. From his connection to Voldemort's thoughts, Harry learns that another Horcrux is hidden in Hogwarts, which is now under the control of Severus Snape. Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the school through Hogsmeade and, with the help of the teachers, confront Snape, who flees. They then destroy the cup with a basilisk fang that Ron and Hermione have retrieved from the Chamber of Secrets, and attempt to locate the next horcrux, Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. Meanwhile, Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters and other allies besiege the castle. Many students, teachers, members of the Order of the Phoenix, and various magical creatures fend off the attackers while Harry, Ron, and Hermione make their way to the Room of Requirement, where the diadem is hidden. However, they are caught by Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. During the ensuing fight, Crabbe casts a Fiendfyre curse in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but is unable to control it and destroys the diadem and himself, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione rescue Malfoy and Goyle on a pair of old brooms. Meanwhile, several major characters are killed in the battle with Voldemort's forces, including Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley.

Voldemort is unable to use the Elder Wand's full potential, and believing that Severus Snape became its master when he killed Dumbledore, kills Snape in order to become its master himself. As Snape dies, he gives Harry some of his memories, which Harry then views using the Pensieve in the Headmaster's office, and discovers Snape's true motivations: Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore never wavered, driven by his love for Harry's mother, whom Voldemort killed, and Dumbledore's death at Snape's hand was by Dumbledore's own instructions, as he was already dying. Harry also learns that Voldemort inadvertently made Harry into a seventh Horcrux when he attacked him as a baby, and that in order for Voldemort to be destroyed, Harry must die by Voldemort's hand, a fact that Dumbledore has always known.

Harry decides to confront Voldemort, who is waiting for him in the Forbidden Forest, by himself. He sneaks out of the castle, and after using the Resurrection Stone to bring back his deceased loved ones for a short while, Harry surrenders himself. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at him, apparently killing him, and Harry awakens in what appears to be King's Cross Station, a place that serves as a link between the muggle and wizarding worlds, as Harry is in a place between life and death. While in this state, Dumbledore's spirit explains to Harry that when Voldemort used Harry's blood to regain his full strength, it protected Harry from Voldemort killing him; however, the Horcrux inside Harry has now been destroyed, and Harry can return to his body despite being hit by the Killing Curse. Dumbledore also explains that Harry became the true master of the Deathly Hallows by facing Death, not by seeking to avoid it or conquer it.

Harry returns to his body, feigning death, and Voldemort marches victoriously into the castle with his body. However, following Harry's prior instructions, Neville Longbottom kills Nagini, the last Horcrux, with the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry then reveals that he is still alive, and the battle resumes, with Bellatrix Lestrange being killed by Molly Weasley.

Harry and Voldemort engage in a final climactic duel. Harry reveals that because he willingly sacrificed himself to death by Voldemort's hand, his act of love would protect the Wizarding community from Voldemort in the same way the sacrifice Harry's mother made protected Harry. Harry also reveals that Snape was not loyal to Voldemort, did not murder Dumbledore, and was never the master of the Elder Wand. Instead, Draco was the master of the Elder Wand after disarming Dumbledore, but, because Harry had disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor, Harry is the true master of the Elder Wand. Harry claims that the wand will refuse to kill the one to whom it owes allegiance, further protecting him. During the duel, Harry refuses to use the killing curse and even encourages Voldemort to feel remorse, one known way to restore Voldemort's shattered soul. Voldemort dies when his own killing curse backfires against Harry's disarming curse, killing himself; the Death Eaters are finally defeated. The wizarding world is able to live in peace once more.

Epilogue

The novel, the last in the series, closes with a brief epilogue set 19 years later, in which Harry and Ginny Weasley are a couple with three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione also have two children, Rose and Hugo. The families meet at King's Cross station, where a nervous Albus is departing for his first year at Hogwarts. Harry's godson, Teddy Lupin, is found kissing Bill and Fleur Weasley's daughter Victoire in a train carriage. Harry sees Draco Malfoy and his wife with their son, Scorpius. Neville Longbottom is now a Hogwarts professor and remains friends with the two families. Harry comforts Albus, who is worried he will be sorted into Slytherin, and tells his son that one of his two namesakes, Severus Snape, was a Slytherin and the bravest man he had ever met. He adds that the Sorting Hat takes one's choice into account, as it did for Harry. The book ends with these final words: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

Background

Franchise

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all Harry Potter books in the United Kingdom, on 30 June 1997.[6] It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by Scholastic—the American publisher of the books—as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,[7] after Rowling had received US$105,000 for the American rights—an unprecedented amount for a children's book by a then-unknown author.[8]

The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998, and in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999, and in the US on 8 September 1999.[9]Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.[10]Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.[11] It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.[12]Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005, and it sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.[13][14]

Choice of title

Shortly before releasing the title, J. K. Rowling announced that she had considered three titles for the book.[15][16] The final title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, named after the mythical Deathly Hallows in the novel, was released to the public on 21 December 2006, via a special Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on Rowling's website, confirmed shortly afterwards by the book's publishers.[17] When asked during a live chat about the other titles she had been considering, Rowling mentioned Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.[15]

Rowling on finishing the book

Rowling completed the final chapters of Deathly Hallows in Room 652 of the Balmoral Hotel.

Rowling completed the book while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh in January 2007, and left a signed statement on a marble bust of Hermes in her room which read: "J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11 January 2007".[18] In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task". "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles". She ended her message by saying "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series".[19]

When asked before publication about the forthcoming book, Rowling stated that she could not change the ending even if she wanted. "These books have been plotted for such a long time, and for six books now, that they're all leading a certain direction. So, I really can't".[20] She also commented that the final volume related closely to the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "almost as though they are two-halves of the same novel".[21] She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the series.[22] Rowling also revealed she originally wrote the last words to be "something like: 'Only those who he loved could see his lightning scar'". Rowling changed this because she did not want people to think Voldemort would rise again and to say that Harry's mission was over.[23][24]

Major themes

J. K. Rowling has said that the main theme of the series is Harry dealing with death.

Death

In a 2006 interview, J. K. Rowling said that the main theme of the series is Harry dealing with death,[25] which was influenced by her mother's death in 1990, from multiple sclerosis.[23][25][26][27]Lev Grossman of Time stated that the main theme of the series was the overwhelming importance of continuing to love in the face of death.[28]

Living in a corrupted society

Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including political subtexts. Themes such as normality, oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series.[29] Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered.[30] Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry" and that also pass on a message to "question authority and ... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".[31]

Some political commentators have seen J. K. Rowling's portrayal of the bureaucratised Ministry of Magic and the oppressive measures taken by the Ministry in the later books (like making attendance at Hogwarts School compulsory and the "registration of Mudbloods" with the Ministry) as an allegory of criticising the state.[32]

Christian allegories

The Harry Potter series has been criticised for supposedly supporting witchcraft and the occult. Before publication of Deathly Hallows, Rowling refused to speak out about her religion, stating, "If I talk too freely, every reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books".[33] However, many have noted Christian allegories apparent in Deathly Hallows.[33] For example, Harry dies and then comes back to life to save mankind, like Christ. The location where this occurs is King's Cross.[34] Harry also urges Voldemort to show remorse, to restore his shattered soul. Rowling also stated that "my belief and my struggling with religious belief ... I think is quite apparent in this book", which is shown as Harry struggles with his faith in Dumbledore.[35]

Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs, one by Quaker leader William Penn and one from Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers. Of this, Rowling said "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition. I'd known it was going to be those two passages since Chamber was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do".[36]

When Harry visits his parents' grave, the biblical reference "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26) is inscribed on the grave.[37] The Dumbledores' family tomb also holds a biblical quote: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", which is from Matthew 6:21.[37] Rowling states, "They're very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones ... [but] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up – they almost epitomise the whole series".[37]

Harry PotterpunditJohn Granger additionally noted that one of the reasons the Harry Potter books were so popular is their use of literary alchemy (similar to Romeo and Juliet, C. S. Lewis's Perelandra and Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities) and vision symbolism.[38] In this model, authors weave allegorical tales along the alchemicalmagnum opus. Since the medieval period, alchemical allegory has mirrored the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.[39] While the entire series utilizes symbols common in alchemy, the Deathly Hallows completes this cycle, tying themes of death, rebirth, and the Resurrection Stone to the principal motif of alchemical allegory, and topics presented in the first book of the series.

Release

Marketing and promotion

The Russian translation of the seventh book - "Harry Potter and the Gift of Death" - went on sale at the bookstore Moskva in Moscow on 13 October 2007

The launch was celebrated by an all-night book signing and reading at the Natural History Museum in London, which Rowling attended along with 1,700 guests chosen by ballot.[40] Rowling toured the US in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City with tickets allocated by sweepstake.[41]

Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, launched a multi-million dollar "There will soon be 7" marketing campaign with a "Knight Bus" travelling to 40 libraries across the United States, online fan discussions and competitions, collectible bookmarks, tattoos, and the staged release of seven Deathly Hallows questions most debated by fans.[42] In the build-up to the book's release, Scholastic released seven questions that fans would find answered in the final book:[43]

Who will live? Who will die?

Is Snape good or evil?

Will Hogwarts reopen?

Who ends up with whom?

Where are the Horcruxes?

Will Voldemort be defeated?

What are the Deathly Hallows?

J. K. Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing British child Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July 2007, and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world.[44]

After it was told that the novel would be released on 21 July 2007, Warner Bros. shortly thereafter said that the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be released shortly before the novel would be released, on 13 July 2007,[45] making many people proclaim that July 2007, was the month of Harry Potter.[46]

Spoiler embargo

Bloomsbury invested £10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until 21 July, the release date.[47] Arthur Levine, U.S. editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two U.S. papers published early reviews anyway.[48] There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments—that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series—would no longer be a deterrent.[49]

Online leaks and early delivery

In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On 16 July, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the U.S. edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date.[50][51][52][53] The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source.[54] This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history.[55] Rowling and her lawyer confirmed that there were genuine online leaks.[24][56] Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 2007, corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real.[55]

Scholastic announced that approximately one-ten-thousandth (0.0001) of the U.S. supply had been shipped early — interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies. One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses from both Scholastic and DeepDiscount. Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties;[57] however, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment.[58] Scholastic filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book."[59] Some of the early release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US$250 from an initial price of US$18.[60]

Price wars and other controversies

Asda,[61][62] along with several other UK supermarkets, having already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price, sparked a price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just £5 a copy. Other retail chains then also offered the book at discounted prices. At these prices the book became a loss leader. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions. Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone's, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda attempted to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk purchases. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said, "It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."[63]

In Malaysia, a similar price war caused controversy regarding sales of the book.[64] Four of the biggest bookstore chains in Malaysia, MPH Bookstores, Popular Bookstores, Times and Harris, decided to pull Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off their shelves as a protest against Tesco and Carrefourhypermarkets. The retail price of the book in Malaysia is MYR 109.90, while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sold the book at MYR 69.90. The move by the bookstores was seen as an attempt to pressure the distributor Penguin Books to remove the books from the hypermarkets. However, as of 24 July 2007, the price war has ended, with the four bookstores involved resuming selling the books in their stores with discount. Penguin Books has also confirmed that Tesco and Carrefour are selling the book at a loss, urging them to practice good business sense and fair trade.[65]

The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticised for violating Shabbat. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai commented "It is forbidden, according to Jewish values and Jewish culture, that a thing like this should take place at 2 am on Saturday. Let them do it on another day."[66] Yishai indicated that he would issue indictments and fines based on the Hours of Work and Rest Law.[67]

Publication and reception

Critical response

The Baltimore Sun '​s critic, Mary Carole McCauley, noted that the book was more serious than the previous novels in the series and had more straightforward prose.[68] Furthermore, reviewer Alice Fordham from The Times wrote that "Rowling's genius is not just her total realisation of a fantasy world, but the quieter skill of creating characters that bounce off the page, real and flawed and brave and lovable". Fordham concluded, "We have been a long way together, and neither Rowling nor Harry let us down in the end".[69]The New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani agreed, praising Rowling's ability to make Harry both a hero and a character that can be related to.[70]

Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, ranking it at No. 8, and praised Rowling for proving that books can still be a global mass medium.[28] Novelist Elizabeth Hand criticised that "... the spectacularly complex interplay of narrative and character often reads as though an entire trilogy's worth of summing-up has been crammed into one volume."[71] In a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, the reviewer said, "Rowling has shown uncommon skill in playing them with and against each other, and also woven them into a darn good bildungsroman, populated by memorable characters and infused with a saving, irrepressible sense of fun". They also praised the second half of the novel, but criticised the epilogue, calling it "provocatively sketchy".[72] In another review from The Times, reviewer Amanda Craig said that while Rowling was "not an original, high-concept author", she was "right up there with other greats of children's fiction". Craig went on to say that the novel was "beautifully judged, and a triumphant return to form", and that Rowling's imagination changed the perception of an entire generation, which "is more than all but a handful of living authors, in any genre, have achieved in the past half-century".[73]

In contrast, Jenny Sawyer of The Christian Science Monitor said that, "There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realised magical world to its multilayered narrative", however, "A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow".[74] In The New York Times, Christopher Hitchens compared the series to World War Two-era English boarding school stories, and while he wrote that "Rowling has won imperishable renown" for the series as a whole, he also stated that he disliked Rowling's use of deus ex machina, that the mid-book camping chapters are "abysmally long", and Voldemort "becomes more tiresome than an Ian Fleming villain".[75] Catherine Bennett of The Guardian praised Rowling for putting small details from the previous books and making them large in Deathly Hallows, such as Grindelwald being mentioned on a Chocolate Frog Card in the first book. While she points out "as her critics say, Rowling is no Dickens", she says that Rowling "has willed into a fictional being, in every book, legions of new characters, places, spells, rules and scores of unimagined twists and subplots".[76]

Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work.[77] He felt this was inevitable, because of the extreme secrecy before launch which did not allow reviewers time to read and consider the book, but meant that many early reviews lacked depth. Rather than finding the writing style disappointing, he felt it had matured and improved. He acknowledged that the subject matter of the books had become more adult, and that Rowling had clearly been writing with the adult audience firmly in mind since the middle of the series. He compared the works in this respect to Huckleberry Finn and Alice in Wonderland which achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.[77]

Sales, awards and honours

Sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were record setting. The initial U.S. print run for Deathly Hallows was 12 million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble,[78] 500 percent higher than pre-sales had been for Half-Blood Prince.[79] On 12 April 2007, Barnes & Noble declared that Deathly Hallows had broken its pre-order record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site.[80] On opening day, a record 8.3 million copies were sold in the United States (over 96 per second),[81][82] and 2.65 million copies in the United Kingdom.[83] It holds the Guinness World record for fastest selling book of fiction in 24 hours for U.S. sales.[84] At WH Smith, sales reportedly reached a rate of 15 books sold per second.[85] By June 2008, nearly a year after it was published, worldwide sales were reportedly around 44 million.[1]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has won several awards.[86] In 2007, the book was named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books,[87] and one of its Notable Children's Books.[88] The novel was named the best book of 2007, by Newsweek '​s critic Malcolm Jones.[89]Publishers Weekly also listed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows among their Best Books of 2007.[90] In 2008, the American Library Association named the novel one of its Best Books for Young Adults,[91] and also listed it as a Notable Children's Book.[92] Furthermore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows received the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award.[86]

Translations

Due to its worldwide fame, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' has been translated into many languages. The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on 25 September 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії).[93] The Swedish title of the book was revealed by Rowling as Harry Potter and the Relics of Death (Harry Potter och Dödsrelikerna), following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book.[94] This is also the title used for the French translation (Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort), the Spanish translation (Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte), the Dutch translation (Harry Potter en de Relieken van de Dood) and the Brazilian Portuguese translation (Harry Potter e as Relíquias da Morte).[95] The first Polish translation was released with a new title: Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci – Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death.[96] The Hindi translation Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे), which means "Harry Potter and the Gifts of Death", was released by Manjul Publication in India on 27 June 2008.[97] The Romanian version was released on the 1st of December 2007 using the title (Harry Potter şi Talismanele Morţii).

Editions

Deathly Hallows was released in hardcover on 21 July 2007[98] and in paperback in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008[99] and the United States on 7 July 2009.[100] In SoHo, New York, there was a release party for the American paperback edition, with many games and activities.[101] An "Adult Edition" with a different cover illustration was released by Bloomsbury on 21 July 2007.[102] To be released simultaneously with the original U.S. hardcover on 21 July with only 100,000 copies was a Scholastic deluxe edition, highlighting a new cover illustration by Mary GrandPré.[103] In October 2010, Bloomsbury released a "Celebratory" paperback edition, which featured a foiled and starred cover.[104] Lastly, on 1 November 2010, a "Signature" edition of the novel was released in paperback by Bloomsbury.[105]

Audiobooks

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released simultaneously on 21 July 2007, in both the UK and the United States.[115][116] The UK edition features the voice of Stephen Fry and runs about 24 hours[117] while the U.S. edition features the voice of Jim Dale and runs about 21 hours.[118] Both Fry and Dale recorded 146 different and distinguishable character voices, and was the most recorded by an individual on an audiobook at the time.[119]

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

On 4 December 2008, Rowling released The Tales of Beedle the Bard both in the UK and US.[122]The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a spin-off of Deathly Hallows and contains fairy tales that are told to children in the "Wizarding World". The book includes five short stories, including "The Tale of the Three Brothers" which is the story of the Deathly Hallows.

Amazon.com released an exclusive collector's edition of the book which is a replica of the book that Amazon.com purchased at auction in December 2007.[123] Seven copies were auctioned off in London by Sotheby's. Each was illustrated and handwritten by Rowling and is 157 pages. It was bound in brown Moroccan leather and embellished with five hand-chased hallmarked sterling silver ornaments and mounted moonstones.[124]

Notes

^While this is not officially confirmed, Emma Watson, who portrays Hermione Granger in the film adaptations, is quoted as saying "We have reshoots at Christmas", so filming presumably ended around this time.

References

^ ab#9: J. K. Rowling. The Celebrity 100. Forbes. 11 June 2008. "The final one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has sold 44 million since it was published last July, including 15 million in the first 24 hours." Retrieved 17 July 2009